S.J. office draws heat in migrant-education audit

Thursday

Mar 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - A newly released state audit of California's migrant-education program criticizes the San Joaquin County Office of Education for handling conflict-of-interest charges against a since-departed official in 2011 as an "internal personnel issue."

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - A newly released state audit of California's migrant-education program criticizes the San Joaquin County Office of Education for handling conflict-of-interest charges against a since-departed official in 2011 as an "internal personnel issue."

The official, Margaret Salazar, became the county's migrant-education director in 2009. She resigned in December 2011 amid allegations she had directed $144,000 in catering and janitorial contracts to her then-husband's businesses. Wednesday, Salazar acknowledged "a lapse of good judgment."

The county office did not inform the California Department of Education of the matter for a year, a decision that draws heat in the California State Auditor's report.

"We would have expected that after discovering its migrant program misused federal funds, San Joaquin would have notified (the department) and attempted to resolve the matter," the audit report says. "Instead, San Joaquin delayed notifying (the department) about the inappropriate use of federal funds until after we discovered the conflict of interest."

County Superintendent Mick Founts defended his office's actions in a letter included in the auditor's report.

"(The county office) is unaware of any code or regulation that requires us to provide such notice to the California Department of Education," he wrote. "Since this is an internal personnel issue and because the cost of the settlement agreement was borne by SJCOE's general fund and not by any Migrant Education Program funding sources, we did not believe that such notification was necessary."

Founts' office has agreed to evaluate its procurement procedures, revise its conflict-of-interest code for the first time since 1976 and provide conflict-of-interest training to all managers in response to the migrant-education audit.

Migrant education supports students from families that have moved in the previous three years in pursuit of seasonal employment in the agriculture or fishing industries.

The migrant program is fully funded by the federal government and serves some of the nation's neediest students, including more than 200,000 in California.

There are about 2,500 migrant students in San Joaquin County.

The state auditor studied eight regional migrant offices, including San Joaquin County's, and found that almost all expenditures were allowable.

Even so, the report says the state department needs to improve its oversight of its migrant programs.

The Salazar matter receives some of the audit report's most in-depth treatment.

The report reveals that after discovering Salazar's alleged conflicts of interest, the county office opted to reach a separation agreement with her rather than pursue potentially expensive legal avenues.

The settlement costs were paid not from the county office's migrant revenue but from its general fund, the report says.

According to the report, Salazar continued to receive her $10,000 monthly salary for more than three months after resigning in December 2011.

She also received medical benefits through June 2012, when her contract with the county office expired. Salazar is not mentioned by name in the auditor's report, which says she "may have violated" two state conflict-of-interest laws.

In an interview, Founts defended the county's response to the allegations against Salazar as "aggressive."

He also said there was no "clear evidence" Salazar had any "intent to defraud" the migrant program. Almost all of the $144,000 in contracts were for catering, and Founts writes that the food was provided "at a more than reasonable cost."

"It just seemed the appropriate personnel action to take," Founts said of the separation agreement. "The person no longer works for the county schools office and we notified the commission on credentialing. We felt that was appropriate."

Salazar said Wednesday, "By no means did I ever intend to defraud my employer. I had to leave a job I loved. My job performance was never in question. There were no criminal charges filed."

She called her actions "a lapse of good judgment due to my personal duress and it's for this reason I still hold all my credentials as a teacher and an administrator."

According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Salazar's administrative credential was suspended for 30 days earlier this year.